ACA Executive Committee Approves Ambitious Plan for 2012

At the end of February, the ACA Executive Committee and ACA Advisory Board met at the ACA Secretariat offices in Accra for their annual meeting.  The Executive Committee is ACA’s governing body, elected by ACA members, that provides direction, guidance, and oversight to the Secretariat, while the Advisory Board consists of donors contributing at least US$50,000 to ACA’s annual budget. Together, they discussed and approved strategic plans and budgets for 2012.

ACA Executive Committee (from left): Ram Mohan, Idrissa Kilangi, Minata Kone, Abou-Bakr Adjibade, Kees Blokland

The meetings were filled with excitement and optimism about the ambitious path ACA has charted for the next few years. With the strong support of the EC and Advisory Board, ACA will continue to transition into a self-financed, sustainable African business association, while continuing to develop services to assist member companies and promote the growth of the African cashew industry. The ACA Executive Committee also participated in the African Cashew Initiative (ACi) Core Partners meeting to discuss ACA’s role in the future of that project.

World’s Largest Cashew Processor Iracema Joins ACA Advisory Board

Niel Hyde of Iracema speaking at the 6th ACA Annual Conference in Banjul in September

For the first time, ACA was proud to welcome Niel Hyde of Iracema to the ACA Advisory Board. Iracema, a Brazilian firm that is the largest cashew processor in the world, will bring extensive experience and expertise in the international cashew industry to ACA as they play a key role in shaping the organization’s future. This also signals a strong commitment from the company to expanding their presence in Africa, both as a source of raw nuts and a location for future investments in processing, a sentiment which Hyde voiced clearly at the Peanut and Tree Nut Processors Association Convention in the United States in January. In his keynote speech at the cashew workshop, most expected him to speak primarily about Brazil. but instead dedicated almost half of his speaking time  to describing his experience of buying around $50m worth of raw cashew nuts in West Africa with the help of ACA. He stated that “We see West Africa as very much a part of our future as a supplier of in-shell and as a place we want to set up modern processing plants.” He concluded, ‘You can’t but be impressed with the level of professionalism, dedication and investment of the USAID West Africa Trade Hub, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Kraft (among other international contributors of course) and the African Cashew Alliance that they all support.” Now, by joining that list of ACA contributors as an Advisory Board member, Hyde has demonstrated he meant what he said.